Acupuncture, practiced in Eastern medicine for thousands of years, is time-tested and has proven effective. For example, acupuncture has proven very effective in the treatment of numerous types of headaches, including myogenic headaches. Results of such treatments were published by Jensen, L. B., Tallgreen, A., Trost, T., and Jensen, S. V. in the Scandinavian Journal of Dental Research, Vol. 85, pp. 456-470, 1977. In addition, acupuncture has proven very effective in the treatment of non-myogenic headaches, such as migraine headaches. This use was discussed in the American Journal of Acupuncture, Vol. 14, No. 2, 1986. Acupuncture has also proven effective for relieving pain during labor. For example, this treatment proved effective in 66-70% of the patients treated in China, as reported by McIntyre, J.W.R. in the article entitled "Observation on practice of anesthesia in the Peoples Republic of China," published in Anesthesia and Analgesia, Vol. 53, pp 107-111, 1984.
However, acupuncture is not limited to painful disease processes. It is also very effective in treating many functional disorders, as with patients attempting to stop smoking. Results of such treatments were published in Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Vol. 6, No. 5, October 1986. In addition, acupuncture has potential applications to other significant problems, such as schizophrenia. The treatment of five hundred cases of schizophrenia with the application of acupuncture had a cure rate of 55%, as reported in Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Vol. 5, No. 4, August 1985. Other functional problems successfully treated by use of acupuncture are discussed in the following articles: Pruritus (American Journal of Acupuncture, Vol. 14, No. 3, July 1986); "Improvement of Sperm Characteristics in Subfertile Men" (Singapore Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vol. 16, No. 3, Nov. 1985); and "Alcoholic Rehabilitation" (American Journal of Acupuncture, Vol. 12, No. 2, April 1984). Acupuncture is indeed a modality that has proven successful, when applied to many and varied disease processes.